had a lesson in landing a big fish yesterday

[bigslackwater]

Yesterday afternoon I set out to fish my favorite strech of creek. On my drive there I found the road was closed. So I decided to do something totally different. I went to a local pond at a park. It's the kind of pond that they have fish rodeos and pump in hundreds of stocked trout for the kids. I haven't been there since I was a kid myself. This time of year I figured it was fished out but wanted to see if maybe there were a few trout that managed to out smart the locals.

First I walked around the pond (about 3/4 of an acre) Water was fairly clear and all I could see were sunnies. As I was about to give up and go somewhere else, here came the "big one"! It was a large brown (I think) maybe a rainbow. I'm guessing he was about 18". I watched him as he swam a pattern from the stream the feeds the pond, to the spillway, dam and back. He took the same course every time. At first I tried getting his attention with a hopper. He investigated it a little and turned away. Then I tried a royal coachman wet fly. I wasn't really sure how to fish this in a pond. It seemed to only catch the attention of the sunnies, which I felt made the trout want to ignore my offering even more. Then I tried a foam ant. I'd cast to him and it seemed like he noticed my line splashing on the glass like surface more the the ant.

At this point I wised up a little and thought about my situation. The fish wasn't rising so I figured he was feeding on nymphs. He even appeared to be feeding on something subsurface a few times. I had seen what I thought was a stonefly on a tree earlier so I tied on a stonefly nymph with some strike indicator about 2 feet up the line (at the point where I attached the tippet to the leader). While the fish was up in the creek section I dropped the fly right in the path he had been taking and waited. He came back around about a minute latter and made a B-line for my fly. The strike indicator dipped a little in the water and I set my hook. This is where everything went wrong!! I'm not really sure how I handled it but I think I kept my index finger tight on the line and the handle and did not let him take any line. The fish gave me a hellish fight for about 4 seconds, He jumped and splashed twice and on the second jump I saw the strike indicator fly in the air and my line went loose.

I discovered that my line broke at the knot between my tippet and the leader. I was using 5x tippet. Recently I got fed up with tying a blood knot so on this outing I decided to start using a surgeons knot. I blamed the situation on the knot. The more I think about it today, I'm starting to wonder if I should have played the fish better. Maybe it wasn't the knot's fault. I could have let him take some line and employed the drag on the reel. If anyone has any advice, let me know. I feel like I'm learning how to cast, present a fly, and hook a fish, but now landing the fish is my new weakest link. Up until now the fish I have caught were of average size and landing them was fool proof. All in all it was a lot of fun yesterday. Another learing experience and now I have the fever for "the big one"!

 

[jayL]

Can't blame that one on the knot. You locked up on a red hot fish and he broke you off. Let your reel do what it was made to do next time, and let him run.

It happens to everyone.

 

[pete41]

bow to the fish when they jump.When they are in the air it's true weight.Instinct is towards a reflex action of stiffening,which raises tip~goodbye fish.Like Jay said,it happens to everyone.One consolation ~you will remember that one,and forget the ones you land.

 

[gfen]

To add to Jay's answer: If it wasn't a surgeon's knot, it would've been another knot somewhere else or the other weakest link.

You can use your finger to press the line to the handle for drag/tension until the reel picks it up, but you don't have to clamp it down. Vary the pressure to let the fish take line until its on a the reel. You want to keep tension there so it can't throw the hook, but not so much that it breaks the line. Sounds easy, practice makes perfect. FWIW, I don't get enough practice, either. You'd be surprised just how much force it takes to break 5# test when applied slowly, and how quickly a rapid tug'll snap it.

The next step is to go back and do it again. Chances are, he's doing the same circuit.

 

[jayL]

Also, now that you know he's there and he's big, consider using heavier tippet. 5x is a little light for most nymphing, and although slow or still water often dictates lighter lines, you can probably get away with something heavier.

I'd start off with 3-4x and step down to something lighter if he's refusing.

 

[bigslackwater]

@ gfen, Good points. I'm pretty sure I had the line clamped to the handle. I will have to learn to apply some drag but not "clamp".
@JayL, I do want to get back and give him another try. I'm sure he's running that same circuit. I'd like to see if he still has my fly and tippet hangin out of his mouth! I probably wont get a chance to find out until early next week.

 

[albatross]

There's always something new to learn in flyfishing. Learning to fight a big hot fish is always enjoyable.

You did the hard part in hooking up. The fighting part will come easy once you've battled a few larger fish...

 

[Fishidiot]

Neat story.
I'd say there's a good chance you can hook him again.
It might have been the knot - tough to say. Usually when a knot fails under pressure, you'll see a little pig tail curly at the end of the line .....whereas a break from too much pressure is usually a clean one (looks like it was cut with scissors).

Lessons learned.

 

[ryguyfi]

My big piece of advice to new guys fishing steelhead is just to let go. Grab the cork and wait for your reel to stop singing. Keep your rod high and work the fish back and forth if possible. You'll be calm by this time (hopefully) and take some line in slowly but surly. Some like to strip line, and others use the reel. Mostly that's by preference and actual size of fish.

Go have at him again and post a picture when you catch him.

 

[pcray1231]

Also important, after you LET GO OF THE DANG LINE, and LET THE REEL DO THE WORK, and the reel sings for a while and a lot of line is out, GO TO THE FISH. Shorten that line up. Tons of fly line out, and the current grabbing it, puts extra pressure on the tippet beyond what the fish is capable of.

Of course, in big water situations, that can be difficult. But in most small-medium stream situations it's easy.

The last hurdle is perhaps the most difficult. Landing it. Ok, so he's out there, you got him tired, he's beat. You start gaining line. But, when you get him to shallow water, and he sees you, your hand, the net, whatever, he's got an extra run in him. And that last run is with short, tight line (no stretch), so breakoffs often happen here. Expect these last minute runs and don't try to stop it, be ready to drop the rod to help give it line.

 

[bigslackwater]

Thanks for the advice guys. I cant wait to get back there and give him another try. Replaying the event in my head over and over has just added to the anticipation...It all seemed very surreal looking back. My biggest fear now is that what I think is monster turns out to be a something like a 12 inch fish! What really has me so interested is the idea of a big fish in such a small pond, and one that gets fished constantly with bait fisherman.

 

[Padraic]

Most of my experience with fighting fish is in moving water. Still, some things carryover.

Keep the bend in the rod as "deep" into the rod as possible. That's to say, try to hold the rod so that the bend is not at the tip but down close to the stripping guide. This will allow the rod to absorb some impact and will also put the leverage of the rod as much in your favor as possible. If the bend is up near the tip, the fulcrum of the leverage is totally against you. As Archemedes said "Give me a long enough lever, and a place to stand and I shall move the world." You don't want to let the fish out smart you.

"Swim the fish", that's to say, use side pressure not just to fight the fish but to guide him away from things he can use to bust off and away from deep water. Keeping the fish in shallow water will make your life much easier.

Keep your arms bent and comfortably close to the body. As with all things in fly fishing, you don't want to tax your joints. Tennis elbow isn't just for tennis players. If you hold your arm straight out or away from your body for a long enough time, you will ache. Keep the elbows in and relax when you are fishing.

Do something that will keep your head clear. I always talk to the fish when I am fighting them. It's funny and keeps me from getting too worked up. If your head is clear, you can anticipate where the fish may go and what it may do. This will help you control the fight.

Be prepared to be surprised, that brown trout is likely a smallmouth bass. If so, he'll fight completely differently than a brown.

 

[PaulG]

Pad

It's been a long time, nice to see you posting again!

PaulG

 

[JackM]

Padraic wrote:
I always talk to the fish when I am fighting them.

Since I don't believe they can hear me while underwater, I wait until I am landing them to strike up conversation, but I will occasionally yell something quickly to them if they take to the air during the struggle.

Nice to here from you, Padraic. Hope all is well.

 

[bigslackwater]

I talk to the fish also. There have been a few times I've had to look around and I was glad no one was nearby to hear my fish reeling commentary!

 

[bigslackwater]

Been back to the pond twice now. No sign of this fish. Both times it's been high water and murky. First time back I only lasted 10 minutes before thunder and lightning made me call it a day. This morning I spent a good two hours stripping wholly buggers across the area he was running his course. Either he's been caught or He's laying low somewhere. I'm going to try again when the water clears up.